Food, Water, and Energy Security in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region: A Nexus Perspective With limited land resources, inadequate energy supply, and growing water stress, South Asia faces the challenge of providing enough water and energy to grow enough food for the burgeoning population. Using secondary data from diverse sources, this paper explores the food, water, and energy nexus from a regional dimension, emphasizing the role of Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) ecosystem services in sustaining food, water, and energy security downstream. The analysis reveals that the issues and challenges in the food, water, and energy sectors are interwoven in many complex ways and cannot be managed effectively without cross-sectoral integration. The most distinctive feature of the nexus in South Asia is the high degree of dependency of downstream communities on upstream ecosystem services for dry-season water for irrigation and hydropower, drinking water, and soil fertility and nutrients. This finding suggests that along with cross-sectoral integration to improve the resource-use efficiency and productivity of the three sectors, regional integration between upstream and downstream areas is critical in food, water, and energy security. Within the nexus approach in South Asia, equal attention should be paid to management of HKH ecosystems–especially the watersheds, catchments, and headwaters of river systems– and to tapping the potential of collaborative gains in water, hydropower, and other ecosystem services through coordination across HKH countries.

1. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
Kathmandu, Nepal
Food, Water, and Energy Security in
the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region:
A Nexus Perspective
International Workshop on Adaptations and Resilience
of Local Communities in the HKH, Hamburg, Germany
9th-11th October, 2011
Golam Rasul, Theme Leader, Livelihoods

2. Outline
1. Background & motivation
2. Nexus challenges
3. Different aspects of Nexus approach
4. Role of Himalayas in Nexus security
5. Challenge in sustaining HKH
ecosystems
6. Conclusions & Recommendations

3. 1. Background and Motivation

4. Food, Water, Energy Security:
A common challenge
• Over 40% of the world's poor
live in SA
• Food-energy deficiency- 51%
• Growing water stress- 20%
lack access to safe drinking
water
• Food, Water & Energy
security is a common
challenge for SA

5. Food, Water, Energy Security: A
common challenge
• With 3% of land, SA has to feed 20% population
• Per capita agricultural land has been declining
• Population will reach 2.2 billion in 2050
• Cereal demand will increase from 241 476 million
MT in 2050
• Increased production needs to come from limited
or shrinking areas of cultivable lands
• Water demand for irrigation will increase about 70%
• Fertilizer demand will increase over 100%

6. Food, Water, Energy Security: A
common challenge
• About 7080% of agricultural production
depends on groundwater irrigation
• Electricity consumption in irrigation has
increased several times
• Food production highly sensitive & vulnerable to
climate changes
• Climate change likely to increase water & energy
demand for food production & land demand for
bio-fuel production

7. Food, Water, Energy Security: A
common challenge
• Himalayas major source of water & diverse
ecosystem service critical for
food, water, energy security in SA
• Inadequate understanding about the nexus
between food, water & energy in Upstream-
downstream context-
• Concept of Food, Water, Energy is critically
important for SA

8. Motivation of the study
• Missing link in the Nexus Discourse
– Role of Ecosystems in sustaining food, water, energy
security
– Regional dimensions- transboundary water
management
• Key motivation
– To understand the nexus between food, water &
energy in SA
• Role of the Himalayas ecosystem services in
addressing the growing challenges of water, energy
& food security.

9. • 2. Nexus Challenges

10. Nexus Challenges: Food Security
• Food production needs to be doubled in next 25
years
• Per capita agricultural land has been declining
• Rice & wheat- high water & energy demanding
• Increased production needs to come from limited or
shrinking areas of cultivable lands
• Intensification of agriculture has led to a great
dependence on water & energy
• Competition for land for food and bio-energy crops &
ecosystem services

11. Nexus Challenges: Water Security
• Growing water demand for
agriculture, energy, industry, human & livestock
• Uneven endowment of water resources
• Almost 90% water is consumed by the agriculture
sector
• About 20% of the population lack access to safe
drinking water
• Groundwater depletion: 70-80% of the agricultural
production depends on groundwater irrigation
• Water pollution – arsenic, water borne diseases, high
child mortality, poor human health, salinization
• Growing water stress- Pakistan, India

12. Challenges: Irrigation
Trend, Water Stress
Irrigated land as % of arable land, India
501
1841
4509
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
1965 1985 2002
Irrigated area in Bangladesh ‘000 ha
5.8
20.8
56
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1965 1985 2002
Irrigated land as % of arable
land, Bangladesh
25,523
40,637
57,178
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
1965 1985 2002
Irrigated area in India ‘000 ha
16
25
35
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1965 1985 2002

13. Challenges: Irrigation Trend, Water
Stress
77
673
1,135
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1965 1985 2002
4
29
36
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1965 1985 2002
Irrigated land as % of arable land, Nepal
Irrigated land in Nepal, ‘000 ha
11,139
15,548
17,810
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
1965 1985 2002
62.9
77.6
83
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1965 1985 2002
Irrigated land in Pakistan, ‘000 ha
Irrigated land as % of arable land, Pakistan

14. Challenges: Changing irrigation
sources in SA
Net irrigated area served by
groundwater (000' ha)
Groundwater
irrigation as % of
surface
irrigation in
2000-2001
1993-94 2000-
01
Change %
Key Indian
states
17,413 21,760 + 25 197
Pakistan 8760 10,340 18 276
Sindh 140 200 42.9
Bangladesh 2124 3462 63 721
Increased extraction of
groundwater has lowered
the groundwater table in
some parts of SA (Jaitly
2009).

15. Nexus Challenges: Energy Security
• Widening demand - supply gap
• 63% no electricity -65% use biomass for cooking
• Shortage of energy impedes economic growth
• Meeting growing energy demand for
agriculture, water, industry & other economic
activities
• High dependence on traditional sources, fossil
fuels, imported energy
• Reducing reliance upon fossil fuels & carbon
intensity

16. Nexus Challenge: Climate change
• Climate change is a major concern -
alterations in SA - temperature &
precipitation, melting Himalayan
glaciers, and degradation of natural
resources & environment
• Fresh water availability is projected
to decrease
• Increased frequency of extreme
events, drought, floods, variability
in climate, affecting monsoon
patterns
1990-2080
(% change)
World -0.6 to -0.9
Developed
Countries
2.7 to 9.0
Developing
Countries
-3.3 to -7.2
Southeast Asia -2.5 to -7.8
South Asia -18.2 to -22.1
Sub-Saharan Africa -3.9 to -7.5
Latin America 5.2 to 12.5

17. • 3. Different Aspects of Nexus Approach

18. Nexus Approach
• Nexus approach is a system-wise approach
• Provide a framework for assessing trade-offs &
synergies, resource use efficiency
• Support minimizing trade-offs, maximizing
synergies, generating additional benefits.

19. Different aspects of Food, Water, Energy and HKH
Ecosystem Interface
Himalayan Ecosystem Services
Provisioning Regulating Supporting Cultural
• Food, fodder, fuel
• Fresh water
• Minerals
• Raw materials
• Pollination
• Genetic resources
• Climate regulation
• Water regulation
• Biological control
• Disturbance regulation
• Regulating precipitation,
monsoon
• Recharging ground water
• Soil formation
• Erosion control
• Water retention
• Nutrient cycling,
movement
• Traditional
knowledge and
practices of
conservation
• recreation,
• Agro-biodiversity
Food and Agriculture
Water Energy
Enhanced
Food, Water
, Energy
Security

20. Food, water, Energy: Trade-off &
Synergies
• Competition
– Land - for food, energy, hydropower, ecosystem
– Water – for food, energy
– Energy - for agriculture, water
• Complementarities
– Agriculture contributes to energy-biomass, energy
crops, biofuels.
– Better agricultural practices > conserve watersheds
> water availability in dry season
– Good water management, e.g., irrigation efficiency
> reduce demand for water & energy
– Growing biofuels in unused land > energy
security, food security

21. Food, water, Energy: Trade-off &
Synergies
• Policy linkages
– Agric. Policy > water & energy demand
– Energy policy > energy & water demand
– Water policy > irrigation, agric., energy supply
– Energy prices may divert land for energy crops– affect
food security
• Challenge- minimize trade-offs, maximize
synergies
• Subsidizing energy for irrigation > agric production >
overexploitation of groundwater - threatened long-term
agricultural sustainability.

22. 4. Role of Himalayas in
Food, Water, Energy Security in South
Asia

23. Himalayas – the water tower of Asia

24. Indo-Gangetic Plain- bread basket of
SA
• World’s largest
irrigated agriculture
in IGBP
• Rice-wheat system
produces the bulk of
the food-grains of
SA

25. Ground water recharge
•Himalayan watersheds are
natural storage of water
•Himalayas influences the
ground water condition of
IGBP - Recharge deep
aquifers
•IGBP is rich in ground water
– replenish by rainfall, snow
& ice melting & seepage
from Himalayan watershed

26. Monsoon Regulation
• Himalayas
regulates
micro-
climates, win
d &
monsoon
circulation,

27. Energy Security
• Himalayas have vital role in
energy security in SA
• Hydropower potential 500 GW
(Vaidya, 2012)
• Himalayas can provide access to
green energy
• Of the total hydropower potential in
India, 79% is in the Himalayan
region
• Micro-hydropower

28. Agriculture & Food Security
• Himalayas play significant role in agriculture &
food security in SA through
– Water supply-groundwater recharge
– Sustaining wetland ecosystems
– Maintaining biological diversity, agro-biodiversity
– Himalayan rivers carry soils & nutrients to downstream
– Himalayan river systems harbour richest fish biodiversity
– Connecting Himalayan headwaters with the sea
– Serve as biological corridors for migration of fish & other
aquatic species
– Supporting biological diversity & livelihoods.

29. Challenges of sustaining HKH
Ecosystems
• Degradation of natural resources-
forest, rangeland, soil, watershed, headwaters of
Himalayan rivers
• Environmental degradation- biodiversity
loss, ecosystem degradation, siltation, silting river
beds, declining ground water recharge, drying up
streams,
• Socio-economic impacts- topsoil loss, declining
productivity, water shortages, livelihoods
insecurity, food insecurity, energy insecurity

30. Conclusions
• Regional interdependencies of the food, water, energy
nexus in the HKH mountain systems & downstream.
• Inter-country coordination & collaboration is critical for long-
term solutions for food, water, and energy security in SA.
• Himalayan ecosystem services are vital to both upstream &
downstream food, water & energy security
• A basin-level approach is required to manage synergies &
trade-offs in food, water, & energy nexus.
• The Himalaya is a regional public good, it is common
interest & shared responsibility to protect the Himalayan
ecosystems

31. Recommendations
• Strengthen inter-sectoral coordination
• Recognize the role of HKH mountain
ecosystems, upstream-downstream interdependencies
• Optimum development & sustainable use of Himalayan
water for water, energy & food security
• Manage headwaters of the Himalayan rivers- Himalayan
watersheds, forests, rangelands & farmlands.
• Provide incentives to local communities for sustainable use
& management of the headwaters

32. Recommendations
• Provide alternative energy sources - to reduce black
carbon emissions
• Develop micro & macro hydropower optimally- identify
potential hydropower areas, demarcate fragile zones .
• Framework for regional cooperation for multiple uses
of water for
irrigation, energy, navigation, fisheries, domestic uses
& for benefit-sharing.
• Promote interdisciplinary research & a nexus
knowledge base to support decision-making in
managing trade-offs & promoting synergies

33. Thank you